No Longer The Sharpshooter
by SageOrijima
Summary: Lance gets into one of his self-sacrificing moods and pays the price for it in the form of an eye. Shiro tries to help and ends up making stuff worse, but he makes it all better in the end.


"-ance! Lance, you gotta open your eyes, dude!" Lance let out a low groan and his heavy eyes began to inch open for him to see Hunk's worried face hovering over his own. Lance could see Shiro and Keith behind his best friend and slowly pushed himself up so he could get a better look around the dank cell. He'd definitely classify this as a cell.

Shiro was clutching his shoulder with his robotic arm, blood seeping out between his metal fingers. Keith looked all scratched up with small cuts littering his body, one especially deep on left cheek that seemed to still be leaking drops of blood. Lance looked even closer at Hunk as well to notice that he was pretty badly roughed up as well and was definitely favoring his right ankle.

"What'd I miss? Damn, I hope no cute aliens passed by while I was out," Lance quipped, attempting to make the atmosphere a little lighter. Shiro sighed and gave a lopsided smile, appreciating Lance's attempt to lighten the situation.

"We're in Zarkon's torturing chamber, one of them at least, now really isn't the time to be joking around, dude." Hunk rested his back up against the wall and sighed while rubbing a muscle out in his neck. "We only woke up a few minutes ago though, we're just basing that off of Shiro's uh," Hunk shot an apologetic glance at Shiro, "experiences."

Lance sat up and a pained yelp slipped out from his lips, it felt like his back had been set on fire. "I-I think my back might be hurt," The Cuban gritted out through his teeth. Lance wiped at the crusty feeling under his nose to have his hand come back tinted a dark red. Keith shuffled around to get behind Lance, grimacing at the sight.

"The armor on your back has been completely burnt off, man, how the hell did you not notice this until now?" Keith bit his bottom lip and his eyebrows furrowed together, an expression he rarely made towards the Blue Paladin. Shiro muttered a curse under his breath and managed to shuffle over behind Lance as well, hissing sharply at the sight.

Hunk fidgeted with his hands and looked up at Lance with a concerned gaze. "Damn, I hope Allura, Pidge, and Coran get here soon, we need to patch this up ASAP," Keith grumbled.

"I just hope Pidge got out safely with their brother and dad." Hunk began to wring his hands together again and Shiro waved his prosthetic arm, saying something to attempt to dismiss the negativity. Lance wasn't listening to those two, he was focusing on Keith memorizing his surroundings.

"Pidge got out fine, Hunk, but how're we going to get out safely?" Keith brooded, moving back to the other side to stand up against the wall, Shiro had also moved to sit across from Lance and next to Hunk.

Shiro had a conflicted expression on and Keith nudged his shoulder, "Maybe next time someone opens the door, we push through and try to get out?"

Shiro seemed to actually ponder that over for a second before shaking his head, "It's too risky, Keith, there's too many flaws with that plan." Keith pouted and opened his mouth, ready to shoot something back at the Black Paladin, but was cut off when the doors to the cell hissed open. Two Galra soldiers walked in and stood there, staring at the paladins.

Keith looked at Shiro, Hunk, and then Lance before he jumped up. In a flash, Keith had the soldier closest to him down, out cold. The other soldier hopped into action, calling something out while getting his gun out of his holster.

In a flash, the bullet pierced through Keith's side at the same time Shiro screamed out, "No!"

Despite the pain that was still flaring up on Lance's back, he dove forwards to make sure Keith didn't fall down too harshly. Shiro also dove towards the two, pulling Keith farther away from the soldier that still had his gun raised and ready to fire. Then, to make the whole shitstorm better, Zarkon in all his fucked glory walked in.

"Which failure was the one acting up?"

"The Red Paladin, my fiercest leader."

Zarkon snatched the weapon forcefully away from his soldier and raised it up, aiming for Keith's head. Without thinking, Lance jumped up, ignoring the tearing and burning feeling in his back, getting in the way of the shot. "Move out of the way, Blue Paladin, you will never be worth a tic of my time."

Lance swallowed thickly, not trusting himself right now, "No, I won't let you hurt my friend any further!" His back burned with every single breath, he pretended it was just another sunburn after a long day at a beach with his family. Zarkon frowned bitterly and silently gave the weapon back to his soldier.

Quick as lightning, Zarkon's hand shot out to grip Lance's upper arm with enough strength to make the Blue Paladin exclaim in pain. "Ha, you humans are so weak." Zarkon's laughter was like nails scraping down a chalkboard, making all four paladins in the room flinch. Zarkon's grip tightened even more, making the Cuban fret that the enemy was going to break his arm, before throwing Lance into the arms of the closest soldier.

"Hold him there." Zarkon's voice had dropped to an icy tone, making shivers run down everyone's spines, even his own soldiers. Zarkon disappeared from the room without sparing a glance at anyone inside it before coming back, clutching at something small in his hand.

"Don't hurt him! He's just a kid!" Shiro suddenly yelled, realizing what Zarkon was about to do. The leader of Voltron was petrified, but no way in hell was he going to let someone hurt one of his friends in front of him without putting up one hell of a fight. Keith lay motionless on the Black Paladin's lap while Hunk was applying pressure on the bulletwound.

Zarkon sighed as if he were annoyed with everyone in the room before focusing back on Lance, hatred blazing in his golden eyes. Zarkon grabbed Lance's chin harshly, making the Cuban flinch, "Stick your tongue out, trash." Protests came from behind the three, but no one dared to jump up to try to physically help out their friend.

Lance smirked, "At least buy me a drink first."

His snarky comment earned him a harsh slap that resonated throughout the small cell that made the others jerk. Lance spit blood onto the floor, groaning in pain. "How dare you talk to me like that," Zarkon shoved his soldier away and picked Lance up by the neck, just holding him suspended in the air. The Blue Paladin struggled, attempting to draw air into his lungs.

Zarkon drew up his other hand to reveal a sharp blade that glistened in the dim light. He slammed Lance into the ground, making the teen gasp and arch his back in pain. He gagged and promptly vomited all over the ground beside him and on his chest, making Zarkon's glare get even sharper. Zarkon raised the knife up to Lance's face, finally breaking the Blue Paladin's brave face.

Lance struggled, screaming, begging, doing everything he could do to get the knife further away from his face. Shiro blanched, recoiled, and then looked away from the scene in front of him. "Please, please don't do this!" Lance's voice was quivering and shaky from the tears that were collecting in his eyes.

Then, without warning, Zarkon brought the knife down into Lance's right eye. The Blue Paladin froze before arching his back and letting out a throat-ripping scream. Zarkon only put the tip of the knife into the socket, but then he started twisting the knife. Gut-wrenching screams and agony filled cries flooded the room in a matter of moments. Tears poured out of Lance's left eye, blood out of the other.

Hunk sat there, frozen, watching the scene with silent tears dripping down his cheeks, Keith was blinking back into existence with a dazed and worried expression, and Shiro. Shiro was ashen, his eyes glazed over, and he wouldn't stop glaring at the corner of the cell as if it was the one digging a blade into his friend's eye. Zarkon backed away from Lance and tossed the knife at the soldier before sauntering out of the dank cell.

The soldier grabbed his friend and left the room, looking up briefly to send an almost apologetic glance at the paladins. He looked at the door, looked back at the paladins and his friend, and walked out.

The soldier left the door wide open.

A few seconds passed before Kolivan and Pidge showed up at the entrance of the cell. In their arms were the paladin's helmets and bayards. Kolivan froze briefly when he saw Lance splayed out in front of him, quickly putting Lance's helmet on and putting the bayard back into his suit. Kolivan then swooped down to pick Lance up into his arms. Keith was already stumbling over towards Pidge to grab his helmet and bayard despite the literal hole in his side. Hunk caught both his and Shiro's helmet and bayard, coaxing Shiro to snap back into it.

Shiro numbly took his helmet from Hunk and put it on, immediately switching his comms on, "Allura, what's the plan?" Hunk sighed with relief and stood up, trying not to put much pressure on his right ankle. Pidge noticed this and jogged over to let Hunk lean on the little hacker, they shared weak grins with each other.

"Shiro, thank god, just follow Kolivan and Pidge out, how many healing pods should I get ready?"

"Three," Shiro followed behind the rest of the others towards the hangar. The Black Paladin nearly passed out with relief when they reached the hangar without much trouble, only a few soldiers showed up. Reluctantly, Shiro let Pidge, Keith, and Hunk go into one of the pods while he stayed with Kolivan and Lance.

"Kolivan, give Lance to me, I can hold him while you get us back to the castle." The Marmora leader didn't hesitate to hand the Blue Paladin over to the Black Paladin before taking his place behind the controls. Carefully, Shiro edged Lance's helmet off to lightly inspect his eye.

Immediately, Shiro's breath hitched when he saw the extent of the damage. He did everything in his power not to lose it. He doubted Lance would ever be able to see out of his right eye again, which would make it hard for him to wield a gun as his weapon.

The Black Paladin sank to the floor with Lance in his arms, tears were beginning to pool up in his eyes. Lance groaned and made a choking noise, "Lance? Lance, can you hear me?" Shiro sunk his teeth into his lip hard enough to taste the tang of blood. The Black Paladin ripped his helmet off so he could gently rest his forehead against the Blue Paladin's. "Lance, I know you can make it through this, you have to, please. I need you, Lance."

Shiro glanced up through the windshield to see the somewhat familiar landscape of the hangar. He pulled his helmet on and carefully slipped Lance's on his head before picking up his teammate bridal style. Kolivan landed the pod and the doors hissed open before a ramp extended to the ground.

"Coran, I'll meet you in the med bay, I should be there soon," Shiro clenched his jaw once he finished his sentence. Kolivan and the leader of Voltron met eyes and the two nodded, a silent agreement passing between the both of them. Shiro rushed out of the pod and out of the hangar, making a beeline for the medical bay.

He made it there in record time, "Shiro, my boy, place Lance into the pod carefully, it's all ready for him." Coran moved out of the way so the Black Paladin could place Lance into the healing pod. It slowly hissed shut and left the room in complete silence, "My boy, my poor boy," Coran rested his palm against the pod and let out a shuddering breath.

Shiro turned around to see the others hobble into the medical bay. Quickly, the Black Paladin rushed over to help Keith stumble over towards another open healing pod. "Wait, wait, Shiro, not yet." Keith inhaled sharply and attempted to push Shiro away from him.

"Your arm, get it checked out, okay?" Shiro bit his tongue, but nodded, "Shiro, really, get it checked out."

"I will, I will, okay? Now get in the pod, Keith," Shiro helped Keith into the pod before shutting it and moving out of the way so Coran could properly set it up. The Black Paladin glanced over at the other two, who had been joined by Allura, and let out a sigh of relief when everyone who was injured was safely in a pod.

A pang of pain shot through Shiro's shoulder and he absently rubbed at it with his prosthetic hand. Allura gasped loudly and rushed over to her paladin's side, "Shiro! Your shoulder, please get in a healing pod as well!" Coran came over as well, pushing Shiro down onto a nearby stool.

"You should've told me you were injured when you brought Number Three in!" Coran fussed and began to examine Shiro's shoulder before shaking his head. "You'll need to hop into a pod for a jiffy!"

The Black Paladin bit his lip and shook his head, "No thank you, Coran, I want to make sure the others get out fine."

Coran seemed to ponder over those words briefly and hopped up, checking the healing pods that were occupied. "You'll get out before all of the others and if you don't, I'll get you out, is that acceptable?" Coran didn't wait for a response, he just gently shoved Shiro into one of the nearby pods, not giving the leader a chance to speak up before the pod hissed closed.

* * *

Everything was a blurred and confused mess as Lance began to drop forward and out of the healing pod. He groaned when his cheek came in contact with a cold, hard chest, "How are you feeling, Lance?" With bleary eyes, the Blue Paladin looked up to see Shiro in all his concerned glory.

"Just dandy, how're you, Space Daddy?" Lance's words were slurred and laced heavily with a teasing tone, attempting to get a rise out of the older male. A loud groans came from behind Shiro and Lance peeked over the Black Paladin's shoulder to see the rest of the team.

Shiro stepped away from Lance hesitantly for Hunk to immediately take his place, giving his best friend a bone-crushing hug. Once Hunk set his friend down though, a soft, sad smile appeared on his face. Lance tilted his head and arched an eyebrow, making the indent where his eye should be move. Hunk inhaled sharply and shook his head, "Don't worry about it just yet, buddy."

Once Pidge saw the opportunity, she dove for Lance and hugged him tightly around the waist with her face buried in his chest. He leaned down a little to wrap an arm around the younger paladin and to rest his other hand on top of Pidge's head. "Hey there, Gremlin, thanks for getting us out of there."

Pidge jabbed Lance in his side and then separated from the older male, acting as if the hug had never happened. Coran and Allura picked a side and hugged their paladin tightly, letting Lance know they loved him as well. Keith stood out of the group with his arms crossed and a stern look on his face.

Coran and Allura backed off and Lance opened his arms up, "Either come here, salt boy, or I'll go there." Keith sighed heavily and walked forward before awkwardly hugging Lance and quickly separating. "Haha, you see, that wasn't _that_ painful!"

Keith punched Lance's shoulder a little harshly and smirked, "Shut up, idiot." Lance threw his head back with a loud laugh and attempted to punch Keith right back, aiming for his shoulder.

However, his hand hit empty space, making him stumble forward.

Shiro shot out to stable Lance with one arm holding the Blue Paladin's hand and the other on the small of his back. "Lance, are you okay?" Lance looked over at Shiro and everything came rushing back at him, including the traumatic experience of Zarkon stabbing his eye out.

A harsh shiver ran down the Blue Paladin's spine and he gently shoved Shiro away, "I'm sorry, I need a moment to myself." The Black Paladin backed off with a concerned aura radiating from him. Everyone parted to let Lance hobble by, all looking equally worried for their friend. Lance swayed back and forth with each step and leaned on anything nearby for stability.

Once outside of the medical bay, Lance raised a shaky hand up to his face. He started with touching his cheek and slowly inching it up higher until it rested where his eye should be. He took a unsteady breath and pushed down, not feeling any pain. His skin had healed over where his eye had been, leaving just an indent in his face. Tears welled up in his good eye and a few leaked out, leaving one side of his face wet while the other was dry as the Sahara desert.

Lance let out a half-assed chuckle and continued down the hallway, leaning heavily on the wall for support. He slips into his room to pull his armor on with trembling hands, fumbling with the clasps so badly he nearly gives up. He yanks his helmet and bayard off his bed and put them on, hoping they'll give him a sense of normalcy. They don't.

The Blue Paladin begins to make his way down the hallway again, wanting to get out of his self-deprecating thoughts. He ends up outside the training deck and only has a moment of hesitation before walking in, head held high. He stumbles around a bit without something supporting him, but he shrugs it off. "Start training level one!"

A loud buzz echoed through the room before a bot dropped from the ceiling in front of Lance. The Sharpshooter of the team raised his weapon and fired away, missing each time. He began to panic as the bot got closer and closer to him until it knocked him back a few feet with a jab to the side. He skidded a bit and raised the gun up to his eye, feeling despair when he saw nothing through the scope.

While stuck in his thoughts, the bot had gotten closer yet again and swung at the Blue Paladin, missing him by a hair. In another bout of panic, Lance went trigger crazy and shot the bot down in a flurry of clumsy movements. He was panting heavily and sank to his knees, "End training!"

The only thing he was good at was taken away from him by Zarkon.

Being the Sharpshooter was the only thing Lance had. It was the only thing that made him useful to the team and now he couldn't even do that. He chuckled sadly, "Now I'm completely useless to the team." Lance doubled over and pressed his helmet against the ground, suppressing the urge to start bawling.

"I should leave. Hell, I doubt they'll even notice. I'll leave everything to Allura, she'd be a much better paladin then I could ever be." Lance mumbled aloud to himself, falling quickly into a pit of anguish.

He shot up to his feet and decided he'd go looking for Hunk, he should at least tell his best friend he was leaving. Lance knew the Yellow Paladin wouldn't agree, but the Blue Paladin also knew he could probably convince Hunk to leave him alone long enough for him to sneak out. Lance tripped over his own feet and slammed into the wall, next to the door to the makeshift living room.

"-abye you should take over the blue lion for now?" Lance's blood turned to ice and he froze against the wall. That was Shiro's voice talking about someone taking over Blue.

"Shiro, you know I couldn't do that to Lance! He's lost so much, I couldn't dare take away Blue as well," Allura sounded distressed, Lance could tell that much even through the door. The Cuban pressed an ear up against the door, trying to hear better.

"Allura, you and I both know he isn't in the right mind to be piloting Blue right now. I don't want to see him get hurt again, you weren't there, you didn't see exactly what happened! He can take her back once he adjusts to everything, I just don't want him being in harm's way right now," Shiro's voice kept getting louder and louder, but Lance tuned it out.

Laughter bubbled up from his chest and tears welled up in his eye, even his crush didn't want him on the team anymore. Lance stumbled away from the door and bolted for his room, bumping into the wall constantly. Once safely in his room, Lance ripped his helmet and armor off, nearly breaking a clasp or two in the process.

He pulled his usual clothes on over the spandex jumpsuit Lance wore underneath his armor, fully knowing there were more around. He tossed the armor and helmet onto the bed, flinching when they knocked loudly against the wall. Clumsily, he grabbed a bag from the closet and stuffed a few outfits he'd found inside it that fit him.

The soon-to-be ex-paladin also stuffed some knick knacks that he had collected over the year into the bag, including a blade for protection. Lance slung the bag over his shoulder and glanced at the armor lying on the bed with his eye before sneaking out. He cautiously made his way into the hangar full of spare pods, making sure nobody was around as he ducked around corners.

Thankfully, nobody was out and around and Lance made it to the hangar without a single issue. Lance attempted to hop into one of the spare pods and ended up slamming his knee as did, he could already feel the bruise forming. He took a deep breath to calm himself and ready himself for what he was about to do.

"I'm sorry, Blue, I'm gonna miss you, baby." Lance closed his eye and turned the pod on, quickly opening the hangar doors. The pod shot out of the hangar and went soaring out of the castle with no destination in mind. Lance numbly inputs some numbers so the pod can run on autopilot and closes his eye.

He could feel the familiar burning of tears welling up in his eyes, but he tried to ignore it. A thought popped into Lance's mind and he sat up quickly, jumping for the controls. He would program the pod to go back home, it was a coward thing to do, but he missed his family enough to push that cowardly feeling away.

Lance tipped his head back and sighed loudly while digging his palms into his eyes. He would miss his space family badly, but he knew they didn't need him around anymore so why bother staying?

The ex-paladin reclined back in the pilot chair and closed his eyes, thinking a nap would be a good way to pass the time. He laid there for what felt like half an hour or so before he began to doze off only to immediately snap back up into attention. The pod had jerked to a stop.

To Lance's shock, the black lion was biting down on the front of the pod and Shiro was standing right in front of his lion. Lance bit his lip and looked away, but Shiro seemed to be having none of that. He banged his fist on the glass and pointed to the corner of the pod where a helmet rested. With a heavy sigh, Lance fetched the helmet and pulled it on before popping the pod open.

Shiro immediately dove forward the best he could and wrapped his arms around Lance tightly. The Cuban froze and slowly returned the hug as tears welled up in his eye once again. Shiro seemed to notice and punched something on the console before grabbing both Lance's hand and his bag. The two went back to Black, who had opened up for her paladin and Blue's paladin to enter.

Once safely inside of Black, Shiro ripped his helmet off and tossed it away, "Lance, do you realize how badly you scared me?"

Lance took his helmet off and looked away, "I," he wanted to say that he didn't care, but he'd be lying. "I heard what you said, Shiro." Shiro recoiled and took a step towards the younger male with his hands extended in front of him, wanting to rest them on Lance's shoulder.

"What'd you hear?"

"You were going to give Blue to Allura, weren't you? Don't try to lie either, I know that I'm just a burden to the team!" Lance raised his head and met Shiro's eyes, the Cuban's eye was filled with tears that were beginning to drip onto his cheeks. Shiro recoiled and tears welled up in his eyes as well.

"Lance, I only had the best for you in mind! I was going to talk to you about this as well, I thought you'd want to wait until you got used to everything, but I realize I should have waited to talk to you about it first." More tears spilled down Lance's cheek and wiped at them furiously, wishing they'd just disappear.

"Shiro, I don't belong on the team, even before this, I was always the weak link, the goof."

"That's complete and utter bullshit, Lance, you'll always have a place in the team! Damn it, Lance, I love you! I want your place on the team to be by my side, I want to always make sure you're okay and that's why I said those shitty things earlier!"

Lance froze with a gaping mouth and started wailing, tears falling down harder than they have in a long time. Shiro jerked and wrapped his arms tightly around the Blue Paladin, burrowing his face in the crook of Lance's neck. "Why are you making it so difficult to leave? God, I love you! I love you too, Shiro!"

The Cuban sobbed into Shiro's chest and wrapped his arms around the older paladin as well, basking in his warmth. Shiro straightened his back so he could look at the younger's face, "Lance, can I kiss you?" Lance brought a hand up to his face to wipe a tear away and nodded, reaching up to wrap his arms around Shiro's neck.

Shiro smiled softly and leaned down to connect the two. They both smiled into the kiss and giggled when they realized the other was smiling as well. Shiro pressed his forehead against Lance's, "Will you become my right-hand man, Lance McClain?"

Lance made a choking sound and nodded furiously, "I would love to, Shiro! I'm so sorry I upset you and ran off without talking to you first!" Lance pulled Shiro down to connect their mouths again, relishing in the softness of the other's lips. A loud purr that shook them in the slightest made the two jerk away in a blushing mess.

"We should probably get back to the others now, they were just as worried as I was, if not more."

Lance laughed and Shiro nearly melted at the soft sound that resonated throughout the black lion. With a sigh of relief, the Black Paladin took his seat in front of the controls and glanced behind him, "You should probably sit down somewhere, you made it pretty far before I found you."

A shit-eating grin enveloped Lance's face and he tried his best to sashay over to Shiro to bluntly sit in his lap. The Black Paladin blushed furiously, but tried to act as if nothing had changed. With a soft laugh that sounded just like bells jingling, Lance moved to straddle Shiro.

He somehow managed to maneuver his legs behind the Black Paladin and tightened his grip around Shiro's neck so his nose brushed against his collarbone. Before they knew it, Black was landing in her hangar and the two had to go meet the others. However, before they left Black, the two shared yet another kiss.

Lance had only taken one step inside of the common room before he was tackled in a hug from Hunk and Pidge, both a complete mess. "Lance, my bro, I thought you weren't coming back!"

"How dare you scare us like that, jerk!"

The Cuban could only laugh at the two and hugged them back with the same strength as they gave. Once the three separated, Coran jumped in. "We have some good news for you, my boy! Number five and two looked over prosthetics and found out a way we could fix you up a new eye!"

Lance froze and unconsciously raised a hand up to the spot where his eye should be and gave a watery grin. "God, I fucking love you all so much, I don't know how I'll ever be able to thank you enough."

"Just being here with us is enough, Lance," Shiro wrapped an arm around Lance and gave his boyfriend a gentle smile that was full of love.


End file.
